Interested In Contributing To Kittysneezes?

Sometimes folks ask about contributing to Kittysneezes, and I thought I’d write up a little FAQ type sheet to address some of the concerns! First up, YES — we DO welcome contributions! If you are interested, you can contact me via the little Contact Us button up top, particularly if you think the stuff you write would fit in pretty well with the stuff already here! (This does NOT, however, necessarily mean liking the same things, of course; I’m merely talking tone-wise.)

We welcome pretty much any type of writing — if you’ve got some ideas that you haven’t seen on the site before, or don’t see in the Main Menu in the left-hand sidebar, feel free to float them to me, and we’ll see! Essays and Fiction are always welcome, as are reviews. With reviews, the only requirement is that they be positive reviews — though, not necessarily ones that gloss over faults, either. But, all tolled, the review should come in under the “I recommend this” column. My philosophy is that it’s always better to turn someone on to something they might not have seen previously, rather than turn someone off of something else.

While that’s basically the main rule, some other issues and questions have come up, so I’d like to answer them here — and if you see any that aren’t on the list, feel free to ask in comments, or via email, and I’ll update this as it comes up!

1. What if I would like to contribute, but I don’t typically write a whole lot?

That is a-OK by me. With other Kittysneezes contributors, the rule has always been “it’s what you wanna write, when you want to write it”. I typically don’t assign stories (though, I may suggest stories, or put people together who might work well — but there’s no obligation at all to take me up on those suggestions), and I don’t have due dates. The only one who has a deadline to meet is me; if anyone wants self-impose one, that’s fine (and welcomed!), but I’m not going to enforce it.

2. Do you demand exclusivity for articles posted to Kittysneezes?

Nope! As far as I’m concerned, you own anything you write for KS just grant me the rights to host it on my website under my banner. (Of course, this includes attribution.) As far as Exclusivity goes, it only applies to OTHER places you post where THEY might care about exclusivity. A lot of the stuff I’ve posted, particularly in the beginning of the site, has been cannibalized from other stuff I’ve written and posted elsewhere.

As a sidebar — since I can’t pay anything (if we’re talking money, I’m LOSING it on Kittysneezes), it’d be pretty weak if I were to demand ownership… or much of anything. What Kittysneezes DOES offer is a place to be seen, a place to be published for a clipping book to help get a real writing job, and a place to post articles without having to deal with the hosting side of things. And, if, by some fluke, Kittysneezes ever gets some crazy injection of Venture Capital, then I will cut in writers and contributors to that pie… but don’t hold your breath. So, yeah — pretty much everyone posting here does it for personal reasons, and not any Job Type reasons (another reason for the “what/when you want” rule), and I don’t pretend otherwise, which is why you’ll never see any skeevy ads about “WRITE FOR A NEW ONLINE MAGAZINE” on Craigslist or anything, trying to con people into writing for free. I’m UPFRONT about trying to con people into writing for free, which is the major difference.

3. Can I post images or YouTube clips in my articles?

Not a problem. Above the text editor, there’s an “image” button which will allow you to use images that are already posted OR to upload your own, so either way works! For YouTube, just paste-in the embed code, and you’re good!

4. Can I post my own music or short films as Kittysneezes projects?

Sadly, no. While the magazine side of things, I welcome all to, I’d like to keep the music and video side to my own projects. On the other hand, if you have an idea for a Kiddysneezes script, you can run that by me, and we can work on it (again, with attribution in the video).

So far, that’s about it! There’s a few technical things I can let people know about if they’re interested, but that’s what I’ve got so far! If I’ve missed anything, just let me know! Thanks!